The Paleface

Product Description The Wild West has never been wilder - or funnier - than in this classic six-shootin' farce which introduced the Academy Award - winning song "Buttons and Bows." In one of his most popular roles, Bob Hope plays "Painless" Peter Potter, a timid correspondence school dentist earning a shaky living in the lawless West. When "Painless" is seduced into agreeing to a quickie marriage by the voluptuous Jane Russell, he thinks his luck has changed. Little does he suspect that Russell is actually sharpshooter Calamity Jane, hot on the trail of a dangerous renegade gang and that she is simply using "Painless" as her cover and unwitting dupe! This Old West burlesque, brightened by Technicolor and uproarious slapstick, went on to become one of Bob Hope's best-loved film vehicles and his biggest box office hit. Saddle up for the wild comic ride! Bonus Content: Entertaining the Troops Command Performance 1945 "Buttons & Bows" Sing Along Photograph Gallery Theatrical Trailer Production Notes Cast and Filmmakers DVD-ROM Features Recommendations Amazon.com Bob Hope brings his own brand of laughing gas to the Wild West as a would-be "painless" dentist lassoed into marrying Jane Russell. She's a shapely outlaw turned undercover agent on the trail of some varmints selling guns to a hostile Indian tribe, and he's her unwitting cover. Hope cowers and cracks self-effacing jokes while bodies fall around him ("Brave men run in my family," he quips, then runs), but he's even funnier swaggering and sneering like a kid playing cowboy in a flamboyant costume apparently stolen from the Oklahoma! road show. The Paleface is one of his best films, and the unflappable Russell is a great match. Theme song "Buttons and Bows" (which Hope delivers with a clowning mock twang) won an Oscar, and the 1948 film spawned a sequel ( Son of Paleface, costarring Roy Rogers and Trigger) and a remake ( The Shakiest Gun in the West with Don Knotts). --Sean Axmaker